Music To My Ears
by MntT77
Summary: Aelita finds an old music box which plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", a song which brings back memories of her father. But this tiny music box might not be as innocent as it first seems… (Takes place during season 3)
1. Chapter 1

"Oh no, this is a disaster!" Jeremie cried.

He, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita were preparing to go on a field trip to conduct a study on a river outside of town, and they had just sat down in their seats on the coach.

"A problem, Einstein?" Odd inquired.

"A big problem – my laptop has broken! It won't start up at all!"

"So what?" Ulrich asked. "Surely you can fix it"

"Well of course I can fix it, but it's going to take a while, and what if XANA attacks in the meantime?"

"Jeremie", Aelita said cooly, "Calm down. We're only going to be gone for a few hours – what are the chances of XA-"

"Aelita!" Odd shouted.

She and Jeremie jumped. "What was that for?!" Aelita was visibly irritated.

"Don't tempt fate!"

The bus started to move away from the academy. Jeremie sighed.

"Jeremie, if you're worried about XANA attacking, then call Yumi and ask her to check the supercomputer – she doesn't have class this afternoon"

Jeremie slapped his face with his hand. "Of course, why didn't I think of that? I'm such a bonehead"

Yumi was relaxing in the lounge of her home when she felt her mobile ringing in her pocket. She answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi Yumi. I know you probably wanted the afternoon off and all, but I'm afraid I need you to go and check on the supercomputer for XANA attacks now and then"

"Huh, but why? Can't you use your laptop for that?"

"It's broken, and it'll take some time to repair."

"Jeremie, I have a massive History test coming up and I'm still totally unprepared – I don't have time to go back and forth between the factory all day!"

"Please Yumi, we're counting on you"

Yumi groaned. "OK, but I'm not happy about this" She hung up. Immediately, Hiroki appeared in the doorway.

"Who were you talking to? It was Ulrich, wasn't it?"

Yumi blushed. "For your information, no it wasn't"

"Well who was it then?"

"Hiroki, have you ever considered not being such an annoying little brat?"

"Well yeah, but where's the fun in that? If you're done yapping on your phone, Johnny's coming over in 5 minutes to play Galactic Invaders, so if you could keep the noise down that'd be great!"

Yumi clenched her teeth. "Urgh, I can't stand being here a minute later, I'm out of here!" She put her books in her bag and stormed towards the front door.

"You can't leave!" Hiroki said. "I'll tell mom and dad and you'll get in so much trouble"

"Hiroki, I couldn't possibly care less. Anything's better than having to be near you" She stormed out of the house and onto the pavement.

Under her breath she muttered "At least at the factory I'll get some privacy"

After about twenty-five minutes, the coach arrived at the woods surrounding the river, and all of the kids exited into the lush green landscape. Mrs Hertz took a deep breath. "Ah, there's nothing like fresh countryside air"

Jim stood next to her forlornly. "If you say so…" he said, scratching his head. Mrs Hertz gave him a brief disapproving look, and turned to her students.

"Anyway", she announced, "You have all been given assignment sheets telling what you must do. You must meet back here at 5pm, sharp. Are there any questions?"

"Er yeah", Odd whispered to Ulrich. "What's the point in this, exactly?" He and Ulrich giggled.

"A question, Della Robia?" Mrs Hertz glared at him. He grinned sheepishly.

"No ma'am"

"Good. Then you shall commence the task at once!"

The group dispersed, with Jeremie and Aelita going in one direction, and Odd and Ulrich going in another – Mrs. Hertz had insisted that the assignments be done in pairs. Jeremie and Aelita stood at the edge of the river and began examining the flora and fauna that surrounded it, along with measurements of the depth and width. This work continued for a considerable length of time, and, being very bright academically, the two of them found it incredibly boring.

"Are we almost done, yet?" Aelita asked, trudging out of the murky river bed.

"No, unfortunately we still have a couple more tasks to complete"

"How long do we have until we have to go back?"

Jeremie checked his watch. "About an hour"

"Well, I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head a bit – I'll be back soon, I promise"

"But Aelita, I-" Aelita was already out of earshot before Jeremie could object. "Fine, I guess I'll do this by myself, then…"

Meanwhile, in the factory, Yumi was studying for her upcoming exam, and without any distractions from Hiroki or Johnny, she found herself making a lot of progress. However, a couple of hours into her studying, she heard a beeping sound come from the supercomputer. Immediately, she rose and typed into the keyboard. There was an activated tower in the Ice sector.

"Oh no! I'd better call Jeremie!" However, as she took out her phone, she realised with horror that she had forgotten to charge it the night before, and consequently it was out of battery.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Yumi grabbed her bag and hurried to the elevator, desperate to get back home so that she could warn the others.

At around ten to five, Odd and Ulrich approached Jeremie, who had fallen in the river and was soaking wet. They started giggling.

"Oh knock it off, you two!" Jeremie groaned. "It was frustrating enough having Aelita walk off and leave me on my own, I don't need you guys making it any worse"

"Well, you'd better hurry up, Jeremie, we have to be back at the coach soon"

"Urgh, fine" Jeremie collected up his equipment. "Did you guys manage OK?"

"Well…" Ulrich hesitated.

"I drew an awesome picture of the river! Look!" Odd handed Jeremie his notebook. Jeremie's eyebrows rose.

"Wow, that's actually really impressive, well done. I'm not sure Mrs. Hertz will be so impressed by it, mind"

"Yeah, I know, but it was fun!"

"Well, I suppose I should go and find Aelita – you coming?"

"Sure" Odd and Ulrich said.

It wasn't too long until they saw Aelita in the distance, who appeared to be kneeling on the floor and shaking.

"Aelita?" Worried that something had happened, Jeremie sprinted towards her, with Odd and Ulrich close behind. As they approached her, they saw that she was crying. In front of her was a small duck egg blue music box with a ballerina figurine on top. It was very dirty and old.

"Aelita, what's wrong?" Jeremie asked.

She sniffed. "Nothing's wrong. It's just… I was walking through the woods, when I found this music box. And the tune it plays… it's… it's beautiful" Aelita stood up with the music box in her hands, still shaking, and twisted the handle. A tinny rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' began to play, as the ballerina spun counter-clockwise slowly and rigidly.

"That was the first song my father ever taught me how to play" She hugged Jeremie, continuing to sob. Odd and Ulrich stood awkwardly, unsure of what to say. This poignant moment was soon interrupted by Jim shouting.

"Stern, Belpois, Della Robia and Stones! What do you four think you're playing at?!"

"Er, sorry, sir", Odd said. "We just lost track of time and, er…"

"Less talking, more walking, got it?"

They knew it wasn't worth continuing the conversation any further, so they let Jim lead them back to the coach, with Aelita still holding the rusty music box in her hands.

Meanwhile, Yumi had sprinted back to her house. However, before she could run up to her bedroom, her father shouted "Yumi! Come here now, please!"

Yumi sighed and walked into the living room, knowing exactly what her father was going to say.

"How could you leave Hiroki on his own when we specifically told you to keep an eye on him?" he said angrily. "Why, if he hadn't called us, who knows what could have happened"

Yumi gasped, and stared at Hiroki, seething. He grinned smugly.

"This isn't good enough, Yumi", her mother said. "It's those friends of yours, isn't it? They're not a good influence."

"Hey-"

"So", the mother continued, "I think it's only fitting that as punishment, you have your phone confiscated for two weeks"

"What?!"

"You heard what I said. Hand me the phone. This instant"

Begrudgingly, Yumi handed over her phone.

"Now I want you to go up to your room and stay there for the rest of the night."

Yumi realised there was no point arguing, and did as she was told.

'Darn it', she thought. 'I hope the others manage to deactivate the tower before something bad happens'

She sat on her bed, paralysed by fear that something horrible was happening to the others, and angry that she was unable to do anything to help them.


	2. Chapter 2

Yumi, against the orders of her parents, climbed out of the house through her bedroom window. She knew the risk she was taking, but she simply could not allow herself to sit idly by as her friends were in danger. She sprinted towards Jeremie's room and burst through the door. Instantly, she collapsed, out of breath and anxious. Jeremie looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"Yumi, are you OK?" Jeremie asked emotionlessly.

"XANA's… attacking… I couldn't…call you… parents… took my phone"

"That's weird, I didn't see anything on my computer about a XANA attack. I'll do a quick check" Jeremie did a manual scan of the towers on Lyoko, but no activated tower was found.

"It seems like it was a false alarm to me, Yumi", Jeremie said. "I think you'd better go back home now"

Yumi sighed. "How the heck am I supposed to get back inside without my parents finding out?"

"Huh?"

"They sent me to my room and confiscated my phone for abandoning Hiroki, and when they find out I'm not there I'm going to be grounded for months"

"Yumi…" Jeremie said distantly, in a dream-like state. Suddenly, his computer began beeping. He swivelled in his chair – XANA had just activated a tower, but this time in the Mountain sector.

"Well, I guess you didn't come here for nothing after all" Jeremie said. As he got up, he slouched slightly and dragged his feet as he walked.

"Er, Jeremie, are you OK?" Yumi asked. "You seem so distant"

"I don't know… I've just been a bit down since we got back from our field trip. But I'll get over it. You warn Odd and Ulrich, I'll get Aelita. Meet us at the factory" Yumi quickly ran to Odd and Ulrich's room, while Jeremie began to walk towards the girls' dorms. However, as he trekked across the stairs, he found himself completely indifferent to the world around him – he had lost all motivation and driving force that he had previously possessed. Yet he also knew that it was not right for him to be feeling this way. After all, it was a XANA attack. Normally such situations were highly stressful, yet this time he felt nothing, nothing at all. He knocked on Aelita's door.

Meanwhile, Yumi entered Odd and Ulrich's dorm to find the two of them lying aimlessly on their beds.

"Odd, Ulrich, it's a XANA attack! Hurry!"

Odd looked up from his comic book wearily. "Huh? Er, yeah, sure, sure, I'll be right there"

"Odd, stop being such an idiot! Get up now!"

"Stop shouting", Ulrich said, covering his ears. "I can't stand the shouting – why are you always shouting?!"

"It's a XANA attack, that's why! Get up, now!"

Yumi was incredulous that Odd and Ulrich were being so complacent. She had to practically drag them out of their room before they relented and began moving of their own accord.

"Move it!" Yumi shouted, getting annoyed now. Odd and Ulrich quickened their pace slightly, but still dragged their feet across the floor and had a dead expression in their eyes - it was as though they had become hollow shells of human beings, able not to live, but only to exist.

Meanwhile, Jeremie was just outside of Aelita's door, when he heard an unusual wailing sound from inside the room.

"Aelita, XANA's attacking" Jeremie opened the door. "We need to –" He stopped, and gasped. Aelita looked up at him. Her eyes were glistening, and the area around her eyes were a fantastic shade of pink. The rest of her skin was pale as chalk, and she was knelt down on the floor, shivering. In front of her was the music box. Yet this pathetic state only lasted an instant – as soon as she saw Jeremie, a manic expression spread across her face, and she lunged towards him, hugging him tightly.

"Jeremie! Oh Jeremie, I'm so glad you're here!" Aelita's euphoria disturbed Jeremie greatly. "Now you can listen to my music box!"

"Aelita, we don't have time, XANA's attacking!"

"But Jeremie, you don't understand!" Her voice had risen to a manic shriek by this point. She was waving her arms dramatically. "The music… it's so beautiful! You MUST listen to it!"

"OK, fine, but AFTER we've dealt with XANA"

"NO! NOW!" She snatched the music box from the floor and wound it up. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" emerged from the decrepit device once again. Suddenly, Jeremie found himself losing energy – he was becoming weaker. His low mood was worsening. He stared at the music box, which had put Aelita into a delusional trance. Jeremie snapped.

"Aelita, I've had enough of this!" He snatched the music box from her hand, and threw it out of the window. For a moment, Aelita glared at him. Then at last, she screamed.

"HOW DARE YOU!" She punched Jeremie clean in the jaw – he fell to the ground, his face now bruised. While he was on the floor, she punched him in the face several more times, and then quickly fled to retrieve the device. It took a while for Jeremie to overcome his intense pain. With a bizarre mixture of confusion and deflation, he reluctantly followed after her.

When Yumi arrived at the computer lab with Odd and Ulrich staring forwards drearily, she was frustrated to find that Jeremie wasn't there. There was a beeping sound emitting from the computer, and Yumi went over to investigate. To her horror, she saw that XANA had sent several monsters into the Core of Lyoko in an attempt to destroy it. Panicked, she phoned Jeremie.

"Jeremie, where the hell are you?!"

"Sorry Yumi, Aelita ran off, and now I can't find her!"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! Jeremie, there's an activated tower, AND XANA has sent some monsters into the Core of Lyoko, and without you or Aelita here we can't do anything!"

"Look, Yumi, just keep calm – "

"Aelita's gone AWOL, Odd and Ulrich are practically zombies, and the world's fate depends on us! And you're telling me to KEEP. CALM?!"

"Look, I'll explain to you how to perform a delayed virtualisation and transportation to sector five. Protect the core of Lyoko at all costs. I'll be along with Aelita as soon as possible!"

Jeremie rattled off a list of instructions, and Yumi followed obediently, not entirely understanding what she was doing. Eventually, the process was complete. Odd and Ulrich had not moved since boarding the elevator – Yumi was terrified. But she hid her terror well, and entered the elevator, ready to do what needed to be done. It seemed that she was the only sane one left.


	3. Chapter 3

Yumi, Odd and Ulrich were virtualised in the Ice sector.

"So much ice…" Odd said wistfully. "So cold… so barren…"

"Odd, stop babbling!" Yumi reprimanded. "We don't have much time to get to the edge of the sector"

"Yumi, please don't get stressed", Ulrich said, looking very forlorn and frightened. "I… I can't stand it when you- "

"Go!" The three of them ran towards the edge of the sector. Yumi was frantic, but the other two seemed completely apathetic towards their dire situation. Eventually, they were standing at the edge, but for a while nothing appeared.

"I hope we weren't too late", Yumi said. Suddenly, the transport orb appeared, and carried the three of them towards sector 5.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Jeremie had managed to find Aelita, who was crouched behind a tree, playing the music box repeatedly. Jeremie felt a strange fog clouding his thoughts as the tune played incessantly. He knew that there was no way to get Aelita to stop listening to the music box. With this knowledge in mind, he formulated a plan.

'I never was much good in gym class', Jeremie thought to himself. 'But it's the only solution I can think of…'

Still feeling disorientated from the tune, Jeremie crept behind Aelita, and swiftly snatched the music box out of Aelita's hands.

"Hey!" Aelita rose and faced Jeremie, livid. "Give me that music box back right now or I'll scratch your eyes out!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Jeremie sprinted towards the manhole cover, with Aelita following in close pursuit.

"Come on Jeremie", he said to himself, wheezing slightly. "Come on – you can do this. You can do it"

Back in sector 5, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi had been ambushed by several Creepers. Ulrich and Odd seemed completely disinterested, barely even bothering to dodge the lasers that were being fired at them. Yumi destroyed two of them at once, but was hit in the back by a third. She turned around, exasperated.

"Guys, I wouldn't mind if you helped me out a little here. We don't have much time to find the key and stop the countdown"

"Oh, the key?" Odd said wearily. "It's up there" He pointed at a corner to their right.

"Odd, if you knew the key was there when why didn't you activate it yourself?!"

"You never asked" Yumi groaned, and sprinted towards the key. Ulrich destroyed one Creeper with his sword, but did not bother to block the hit fired at him from another, even though he knew it was coming. Odd destroyed the offending Creeper, but not before it fired another shot that devirtualised Ulrich. Yumi activated the key, and the platforms began to even into a smooth terrain, and the wall opened. She destroyed the last two Creepers effortlessly.

"OK… one man down. We can still do this. Come on Odd" The two of them ran towards the Celestial Dome, and then into the outer chamber. As per Jeremie's instructions, Yumi had pre-programmed the vehicles, and she and Odd swiftly made their way towards the Core of Lyoko. However, Odd was still in a state of apathy, and thus did not carefully watch where he was going. Yumi went through the hole at the bottom of the core, but Odd failed to timed his entrance correctly, and ended up being crushed by the closing door, devirtualising him. Yumi looked behind her.

"Oh come on, this is ridiculous! How am I meant to save the day when everyone around me has started acting like a bunch of idiots?!" She activated the key, and upon entering the core room, she saw that the Heart of Lyoko had already taken some considerable damage. The first shield had broken already, and the second didn't look like it would last much longer. There were six creepers in total – Yumi immediately threw her fans and took out the closest one. She knew that if they were going to win against XANA, she was going to have to fight harder than she ever had before.

Jeremie had finally reached the elevator, with Aelita close behind. He knew that he had to get into the elevator quickly in order for his plan to work. He entered, but Aelita was just swinging down from the ropes. He pressed the stop button, and the door closed just as she was about to reach it. She started pressing on the button repeatedly in frustration.

When Jeremie reached the scanner room, he was shocked to find Odd and Ulrich lying against the wall, completely nonchalant to the world around them.

"You two got devirtualised?!"

"Well yeah, isn't that obvious?" Odd said, without his usual witty charm.

"So Yumi's all alone on Lyoko?"

"I guess so, yeah" Ulrich said.

Jeremie became panicked, but was able to repress these emotions. "OK, change of plan. Aelita will be coming down here any minute – when you do, I want you to get her into one of the scanners through any means necessary."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Odd asked.

"This box", Jeremie said, showing the music box to Odd and Ulrich. "This is XANA's attack. Every time you listen to its tune your mental health becomes worse and worse. He specifically crafted it so that Aelita would listen to the tune repeatedly and be unable to tear herself away from it. And then while we were all distracted, he could destroy Lyoko without interference from us."

As he finished his explanation, a shrill voice emerged from the floor above them.

"Jeremie, where the hell are you?! I'll rip your skin off if you don't give me that music box RIGHT NOW!"

"So basically you want us to use physical force on a homicidal maniac?" Odd was very unhappy. "Gee, that should be a piece of cake"

"Sorry guys, but you're much stronger than I am. Besides, I have to be in the computer lab to virtualise her"

"But if she's so hysterical how is she supposed to deactivate the tower?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know. Look, we just can't let XANA beat us this easily, OK?"

"THERE YOU ARE!" Aelita had walked down from the computer lab into the scanner room. "HAND ME THAT MUSIC BOX NOW!"

Jeremie threw the box at Ulrich. "Good luck!" He ran towards the elevator and closed it before Aelita could get to him. Instantly, she turned around to face Odd and Ulrich, her face inhuman with rage and frenzy. She pounced at them, but Ulrich, with his martial arts training, pinned her to the ground. She struggled to free herself, but combined with Odd pushing down on her, she was unable to resist. Suddenly, Jeremie's voice emerged from upstairs. "OK guys, now get her into one of the scanners, quickly!"

Ulrich looked down at Aelita, who shivered pathetically as she lay on the ground. "I'm sorry Aelita" He picked her up and slung her into the scanner. "Now!" Jeremie closed the scanner door before Aelita could recover.

As Jeremie started up the virtualisation process, Jeremie said, "Yumi, how are you doing?"

"Horribly", Yumi replied. On Lyoko, she had destroyed three of the Creepers, but the other three were being surprisingly nimble, and two Mantas had also appeared. The core was continuing to take relentless damage. "There are too many monsters for me to handle alone, and I've lost a lot of life points"

"I'm virtualising Aelita now. She's in a bad state, but I'm sure she can help you somehow"

"Let's hope so", Yumi said. "If we fail this time, then we've failed all of humanity"


End file.
